Adaptive control and management for electronic device

ABSTRACT

In a method of controlling and managing one or more electronic devices, a projectable space instance is provided for a control device to create a workspace, wherein an analyzing and controlling tool, a data-monitoring tool and at least one unified tool for driving at least one electronic device is selectively added to the projectable space instance; and the projectable space instance is parsed with a projector by the control device to automatically generate a projected workspace corresponding to the workspace to be created via the projectable space instance, wherein the data-monitoring tool picks up a data information from the at least one electronic device by way of the at least one unified tool, and the analyzing and controlling tool analyzes the data information and controls the at least one electronic device by way of the at least one unified tool according to an analysis result.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a control method, and particularly to amethod of adaptively controlling and managing one or more electronicdevices by way of a workspace. The present invention also relates to acontrol device for adaptively controlling and managing one or moreelectronic devices.

BACKGROUND

As information and communications technology improves every day,building an informationized, digitized, human-centered and facilitativesmart life has become a trend in the future. Meanwhile, home appliancesthat are parts of our daily lives would become keys to digital homes andsmart lives for sure. Hence, the development of intelligentized homeappliances would be one of the mainstreams in industry.

Smart home appliances generally refer to consumer electronics and homeappliances with ability to link to internet, including wide area servicenetwork, local area home network, or any other suitable network. Homeappliances interconnected via internet and integrated as a system can beused to build up digital homes and smart lives.

For integrating and communicating home appliances with one another,different types of home appliances, home appliances produced bydifferent designers or manufacturers and/or home appliances performingdifferent functions are linked through a unified communication protocol.For example, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. (hereinafter “Qualcomm”) hasdeveloped a communication chip based on the AllJoyn open softwarearchitecture. Home appliances installed with the communication chip arethen able to communicate and interact with one another through theAllJoyn platform.

Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a scheme showing conventionalcommunication among home appliances installed with AllJoyn communicationchips. As shown in FIG. 1, AllJoyn communication chips 111 and 121developed based on the AllJoyn open software architecture are installedin a first electronic device 11 (such as a first illuminating light) anda second electronic device 12 (such as a second illuminating light),respectively. Meanwhile, a first device driver 131 for driving the firstelectronic device 11, a second device driver 132 for driving the secondelectronic device 12, and means 133 for controlling and managing thefirst electronic device 11 and the second electronic device 12, e.g. asoftware program, are installed in a control device 13 (such as acomputer). Since the first device driver 131, the second device driver132 and the control and management means 133 all comply with the AllJoynprotocol, the first electronic device 11 driven by the first devicedriver 131 and the second electronic device 12 driven by the seconddevice driver 132 can successfully communicate with each other via thecontrol and management means 133. In other words, through the firstdevice driver 131, second device driver 132 and control and managementmeans 133, the first electronic device 11 and the second electronicdevice 12 are interoperable to achieve cooperative and interactiveobjectives. In addition, several corporations including Microsoft,Philips and Sony have established another communication protocol,Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA), for communication andinteraction among home appliances. Green Energy & Environment ResearchLaboratories of Industrial Technology Research Institute (Taiwan)further provides a SAANet control protocol available to home appliancemanufacturers.

Please refer to FIG. 2, which is a scheme showing conventionalcommunication among home appliances installed with differentcommunication chips executing different communication protocols. Asshown in FIG. 2, a first electronic device 11 (such as a firstilluminating light) is installed with an AllJoyn communication chip 111developed based on the AllJoyn open software architecture. A thirdelectronic device 16 (such as a third illuminating light) is installedwith a DLNA communication chip 161 developed based on the DLNAcommunication protocol. A fourth electronic device 14 (such as a fourthilluminating light) is installed with a SAANet communication chip 141developed based on the SAANet control protocol. Meanwhile, a firstdevice driver 151, a third device driver 152 and a fourth device driver153 are installed in a control device 15 (such as a computer), whereinthe first device driver 151 developed based on the AllJoyn open softwarearchitecture supports the first electronic device 11, the third devicedriver 152 developed based on the DLNA communication protocol supportsthe third electronic device 16, and the fourth device driver 153developed based on the SAANet control protocol supports the fourthelectronic device 14.

Since the first device driver 151, the third device driver 152 and thefourth device driver 153 do not work under a common communicationprotocol, the first electronic device 11, the third electronic device 16and the fourth electronic device 14 cannot successfully interact andcommunicate with one another. Furthermore, since home appliancemanufacturers may be in a competitive relationship to one another, itmight be hard to coordinate the home appliance manufacturers to accept acommon communication protocol or use a common communication chip underconsideration of commercial profits.

FIG. 3 schematically shows how a conventional communication method makesthe communication and interaction among home appliances installed withdifferent communication chips and executing different communicationprotocols possible. As shown in FIG. 3, an interface 154 developed anddesigned by any of the manufacturers of the home appliance, themanufacturer of the control device, or a third party is installed in acontrol device 15′ as a communication medium among the first devicedriver 151, the third device driver 152 and the fourth device driver153. Accordingly, the first electronic device 11, the third electronicdevice 16 and the fourth electronic device 14 can communicate andinteract with one another successfully. Unfortunately, there wouldalways be new communication protocols developed for new or existing homeappliances in the future. The new communication protocols might beunable to communicate with one other or with the existing ones. Underthis circumstance, the interface 154 installed in the control device 15′might need to be updated frequently, and thus a burden would berendered. Once the interface 154 cannot be updated any longer due to avariety of reasons, home appliances using communication chips developedbased on new communication protocols would be unable to communicate andinteract with other home appliances. This might cause problems in use.Therefore, an operating environment which is so flexible that a newcommunication protocol can be added to the control device easily andcompatibly, and any undesired communication protocol can be removed fromthe control device at any time, is required.

Furthermore, subsequent to the popularity of intelligent homeappliances, how to provide efficient and intelligent services for homemembers to further improve quality of lives would be next aim to beachieved. For example, there are generally a number of illuminatinglights in a building. Under the trend of energy saving, it is preferablythat the lights can be adaptively turned on and/or turned off accordingto the pedestrian traffic passing therethrough. However, since lightsare generally distributed broad in a variety of regions, where thepedestrian traffic conditions are quite different and variable, it isimpractical to specifically design each light to be turned on and/or offaccording to a preset pattern.

SUMMARY

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a method ofcontrolling and managing one or more electronic devices such as homeappliances. The control and management method is human-oriented andmeets the lifestyles and habits of users.

The present invention also provides a control device for executing thecontrol and management method. The device drivers for driving theelectronic devices can be selectively configured as desired by theusers. The device drivers are compatible to one another in the presentcontrol device. The electronic devices controlled by the present controldevice can automatically and adaptively operate depending on practicalrequirements in a less complicated and less labor-consuming way.

In an aspect, the present invention provides a method of controlling andmanaging an electronic devices, which comprises: providing a projectablespace instance for a control device to create a workspace, wherein ananalyzing and controlling tool, a data-monitoring tool and at least oneunified tool for driving at least one electronic device is selectivelyadded to the projectable space instance; and parsing the projectablespace instance with a projector by the control device to automaticallygenerate a projected workspace corresponding to the workspace to becreated via the projectable space instance, wherein the data-monitoringtool accesses a data information from the at least one electronic deviceby way of the at least one unified tool, and the analyzing andcontrolling tool analyzes the data information and controls the at leastone electronic device by way of the at least one unified tool accordingto an analysis result.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a control device forcontrolling and managing at least one electronic device, which comprisesa projector for parsing a projectable space instance to build aprojected workspace corresponding to a workspace to be created via theprojectable space instance, wherein an analyzing and controlling tool, adata-monitoring tool and at least one unified tool for driving the atleast one electronic device are selectively added to the projectablespace instance, and when the projected workspace is built and working,the data-monitoring tool accesses a data information from the at leastone electronic device by way of the at least one unified tool, and theanalyzing and controlling tool analyzes the data information andcontrols the at least one electronic device by way of the at least oneunified tool according to an analysis result.

In an embodiment, the at least one unified tool includes at least oneunified device driver generated by unifying at least one device driverby way of a unifying method.

In an embodiment, the at least one device driver is developed by way ofa software development kit (SDK) corresponding to the at least oneelectronic device.

In an embodiment, the at least one unified tool includes a plurality ofunified device drivers generated by unifying a plurality of devicedrivers for driving a plurality of electronic devices, respectively,wherein the plurality of device drivers are configured in the projectedworkspace after being unified, so as to be compatible with one another.

In an embodiment, the method further comprises: storing the datainformation accessed from the at least one electronic device by thedata-monitoring tool into a storage device to be accessed by theanalyzing and controlling tool for analysis.

In an embodiment, the control device controls and manages at least twodifferent types of electronic devices.

In an embodiment, the at least two different types of electronic devicesare manufactured by different manufacturers, exhibit differentfunctions, or are manufactured by different manufacturers and exhibitdifferent functions.

In an embodiment, the method is adapted for controlling and managing ahome appliance system, a medical equipment system, a security controlsystem, a fire-fighting control system or a transportation controlsystem.

In an embodiment, the control device is selected from a computer, a homeappliance, a handheld electronic device, a wearable electronic device ora combination thereof.

In an embodiment, the projectable space instance is an object, anextensible markup language (XML) document, or an instance instantiatedwith a structured language or a structured protocol.

In an embodiment, the data-monitoring tool is included in the analyzingand controlling tool; the analyzing and controlling tool is included inthe data-monitoring tool; or the data-monitoring tool and the analyzingand controlling tool are a common tool.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above objects and advantages of the present invention will becomemore readily apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art afterreviewing the following detailed description and accompanying drawings,in which:

FIG. 1 is a scheme showing a conventional method of communication amonghome appliances installed with AllJoyn communication chips;

FIG. 2 is a scheme showing another conventional method of communicationamong home appliances installed with different communication chipsexecuting different communication protocols;

FIG. 3 is a scheme showing a further conventional method ofcommunication among home appliances installed with differentcommunication chips and executing different communication protocols;

FIG. 4 is a scheme showing a unifying method, which is applicable to thepresent invention for controlling and managing one or more electronicdevices;

FIG. 5 is a scheme illustrating implementation of a personal workspacewith a unified script used as an intermediate language;

FIG. 6 is a schematic block diagram exemplifying allocation of unifiedmatters in a personal workspace, which is applicable to the presentinvention for controlling and managing one or more electronic devices;

FIGS. 7, 8A and 8B are schematic diagrams exemplifying creation of aprojected workspace, which is applicable to the present invention forcontrolling and managing one or more electronic devices;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram exemplifying the relationship between aprojectable space instance and a projected workspace applicable to thepresent invention for controlling and managing one or more electronicdevices;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a method of controlling and managingone or more electronic devices according to the present invention;

FIGS. 11 and 12 are schematic diagrams illustrating a control andmanagement method according to an embodiment of the present invention,wherein a projected workspace is created to conduct control andmanagement among electronic devices;

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram exemplifying the relationship between aprojectable space instance and a projected workspace involved in themethod illustrated in FIGS. 11 and 12; and

FIG. 14 is a scheme illustrating the interaction of the projectedworkspace in the control device with the first electronic device and thesecond electronic device for control and management according to anembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention can be readily appreciated by referring to thefollowing descriptions, including the following glossary of terms andthe concluding examples. It is to be noted that some patent publicationnumbers or patent application numbers are cited throughout thespecification, and the entire disclosures thereof are to be incorporatedherein for reference.

In the embodiments described below, the present invention is describedby way of examples and characteristic illustrations, but is not to belimited to the examples and characteristic illustrations. The term“information source” used herein indicates a symbolic sequence of usefulinformation that can be specifically interpreted as, but not limited to,a message for organizing and labeling data. The information sourceincludes a website (such as internet service), intranet, software,electronic book, database and other media of information (such asstorage media of non-transitory computer or storage media of mobiledevice). The term “original information” used herein indicates, but isnot limited to, a file, web page, database row, policy, rule or anyinformation accessible from corresponding machine or server. The term“tool” used herein indicates, but is not limited to, a utility, widget,agent, application, service or any executable element accessible fromcorresponding machine or server.

Further, the “original information” and the “original tool” areembodiments of the “original matter” in the present invention. By way ofa unifying method, multiple “original matters” from the same ordifferent “information sources” are modeled into multiple “unifiedmatters”. The resulting “unified matters” existing in the same workingenvironment are then compatible with one another and capable ofconducting cooperative task. Moreover, the “unified tool” and the“unified information unit” are embodiments of the “unified matter” inthe present invention. The term “matterizer” used herein indicates acomponent, device or program code for unifying the “original matter”.

In a preferred embodiment, the unifying method mentioned above includessteps of reorganizing at least one original information obtained from atleast one of the multiple information sources based on a unified datastructure, thereby modeling the original information into a unifiedinformation unit; and/or reorganizing at least one original toolobtained from at least one of the multiple information sources based onanother unified data structure, thereby modeling the original tool intoa unified tool. The unified data structure and the another unified datastructure may be the same or different. The unifying method can beimplemented with a matterizer.

Please refer to FIG. 4, which is a scheme showing a unifying method,which is applicable to the present invention for controlling andmanaging one or more electronic devices. As shown in FIG. 4, amatterizer 992 reorganizes an attribute and an associated link of anoriginal matter 991 based on a unified data model 993, thereby modelingthe original matter 991 into a unified matter 994. The resulting basicattribute of the unified matter 994 then includes a type and a link ofthe original matter 991.

In this embodiment, the original matter 991 could be, but is not limitedto an original information and/or an original tool. In the abovementioned unifying method, if the attribute accessible from the originalinformation complies with the attribute requirement of the unifiedinformation unit, the unified information unit can be directly generatedthrough the matterizer 992. On the other hand, if the attributeaccessible from the original information does not comply with theattribute requirement of the unified information unit, a process oflogically reorganizing the attribute and the associated link of theoriginal information to redefine the original information is needed, inorder to transform the original information into a new originalinformation with an attribute consistent to the attribute requirement ofthe unified information unit. Under this circumstance, the unifiedinformation unit is indirectly generated.

Furthermore, the unified tool is directly generated through thematterizer 992 when the original tool is compatible with the workingenvironment of the workspace; and an adapter and/or a softwaredevelopment kit (SDK) for driving the original tool would be required asa medium for generating the unified tool, i.e. indirectly, when theoriginal tool is incompatible with the working environment of theworkspace. In other words, the adapter is used to provide an interfaceimplementation to fit the working environment.

The details of the embodiments of unifying method, the monitoring of theunified matters and the operation of the matterizer according to thepresent invention can be understood with reference to, but not limitedto, the U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/324,069, entitled “A METHODOF UNIFYING INFORMATION AND TOOL FROM A PLURALITY OF INFORMATIONSOURCES” as well as the China Patent Application No. 201410768564.X,which claims the benefit of priority to the U.S. patent application Ser.No. 14/324,069 and is entitled “A method of unifying information andtool from a plurality of information sources and computer product anddevice using the method”, which are assigned to the same assignee. Theentire disclosures of the co-pending patent applications areincorporated herein for reference, and would not be redundantlydescribed. Furthermore, those skilled in the art may make equivalentmodifications according to practical requirements.

Hereinafter, two more examples of unifying methods applicable to thepresent invention are given as follows. The first one is an informationunifying method applied to Garmin satellite navigation. Similar toabove-mentioned unifying method, a unified point information (regardedas the unified information unit of the present invention) correspondingto an original point information (regarded as the original informationof the present invention) is obtained after a unifying process isperformed on the original point information by executing the Point ofInterest (POI) function of Garmin satellite navigation. The second oneis a tool unifying method applied to an Android system. An Androidsystem is an open source mobile operating system based on Linux. Ingeneral, application programs (regarded as the original tool of thepresent invention) of Android systems are written in Java. Therefore,application programs (regarded as the original tool of the presentinvention) written in Java can be modeled into unified applications(regarded as the unified tool of the present invention) compatible withthe Android system. The resulting unified application programscorresponding to the application programs written in Java are thenexecutable in the Android system.

The workspace described herein is a space where at least one matterizer,at least one information and/or at least one tool can interact with oneanother and/or execute specified tasks. The at least one informationand/or at least one tool can be, but is not limited to be, imported intothe workspace through the at least one matterizer. Information importers9881, 9882 and 9883 to be described later with reference to FIG. 5 areexemplified embodiments of the matterizer. The unified script describedherein is an intermediate language for implementing the workspace, andthe at least one matterizer, the at least one information and/or the atleast one tool are provided, for example built-in or plugged-in, to theworkspace by way of the unified script.

In an embodiment, the above-mentioned at least one information is aunified information unit which is generated after at least one originalinformation obtained from at least one information source is unified.The above-mentioned at least one tool is a unified tool which isgenerated after at least one original tool obtained from at least oneinformation source is unified. Any user could add, build or plug anyunified information unit he needs and/or unified tool he needs fromcorresponding information sources into a personal workspace according topractical needs. In other words, the workspace can be a user-orientedpersonal workspace.

Please refer to FIG. 5 and FIG. 6. FIG. 5 schematically illustrates animplementation concept of using the unified script as an intermediatelanguage for implementing the workspace, and FIG. 6 schematicallyillustrates an exemplified configuration of a personal workspace. Asshown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, a unified information unit 985′corresponding to an original information 985 in the Dropbox 982, a firstunified tool 986′ corresponding to a compatible original tool 986 in thecloud storage 983 and a second unified tool 987′ corresponding to anincompatible original tool 987 in a server 984 are selectively combinedinto a personal workspace 981 by a user. This can be accomplished bycompiling a unified script 980 and configuring an information importer9881 of Dropbox 982, an information importer 9882 of the cloud storage983 and an information importer 9883 of the server 984 according to theunified script 980. Accordingly, the original information 985 in theDropbox 982 can be unified into the unified information unit 985′ andthen imported into the personal workspace 981. For example withoutlimitation, the unified script 980 is defined as an intermediatelanguage for implementing the workspace, and the information importer9882 is a matterizer of Dropbox.

As shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, the original tool saved in the cloudstorage 983 is a compatible original tool 986 which is compatible withthe component architecture of the unified tool of the personal workspace981. The first unified tool 986′ corresponding to the compatibleoriginal tool 986 is directly provided to the personal workspace 981through the information importer 9882 of the unified script 980.

On the other hand, the original tool saved in the server 984 is theincompatible original tool 987 which is incompatible with the componentarchitecture of the unified tool of the personal workspace 981. Then thesecond unified tool 987′ corresponding to the incompatible original tool987 is indirectly provided to the personal workspace 981 through acompatible adaptor 989 and the information importer 9883 of the unifiedscript 980.

FIG. 6 further shows that the unified information unit 985′, the firstunified tool 986′ and the second unified tool 987′ are flexiblyconfigured and arranged, e.g. grouped or placed, by the user in aspecified region of the personal workspace 981 according to practicalneeds. Afterwards, the user may use the unified tool to do what he wantsto do, for example, to access and control the corresponding unifiedinformation unit by way of operations between the unified tool and theunified information unit, such as clicking or dragging.

The specific descriptions of using the unified script as theintermediate language for implementing the workspace and selectivelycombining unified information unit and unified tool from correspondinginformation sources into the personal workspace to perform tasksaccording to practical needs, as mentioned in the embodiments, can alsobe referred to a co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/325,466,entitled “A method of combining unified matters in personal workspace”,as well as the China Patent Application No. 201410796528.4, which claimsthe benefit of priority to the U.S. patent application Ser. Nos.14/324,069 and 14/325,466 and is entitled “A method of combining unifiedmatters in a personal workspace and computer product and device usingthe method”, which are assigned to the same assignee, and will not beredundantly described herein.

The personal workspace mentioned above is just an embodiment of theworkspace, and the workspace adapted to be used in the present inventionis not limited thereto. For instance, a unified script which is regardedas the intermediate language for implementing the workspace can beedited in advance so as to render a workspace built in a matterizer,information and/or tool. Furthermore, the workspace is not limited to aprivate workspace, but can be provided for cooperative work amongmultiple users at the same or different time according to practicalneeds. Furthermore, the workspace can be projected to any electronicdevice with computing capability by way of a workspace-projecting methodso that a user may use the projected workspace on that electronicdevice.

In an embodiment, the workspace-projecting method includes acquiring aprojectable space instance which is instantiated from a unified scriptthrough a URI (uniform resource identifier). The unified script isdefined to configure a matterizer, information and/or tool to model aworkspace, as described above, and the projectable space instance isused for building a projected workspace corresponding to the workspaceto provide an interface for operating the matterizer, information and/ortool. The workspace-projecting method further includes using a projectorto parse the projectable space instance and build a working environmentto configure the matterizer, information and/or tool, in order toexecute the projected workspace. Then the user may interact with theprojected workspace.

In the workspace-projecting method, the projector can be acquired from aremote data station, a projectable space instance or a preloadedapplication program, and loaded to an engine where a compatible workingenvironment is provided for executing the projector. The engineincludes, but is not limited to, a JavaScript engine, a Windowsapplication, and/or a Linux application program. Furthermore, theunified script can be declared by a DTD (Document Type Definition), anXML Schema, a structured language or a structured protocol, but is notlimited thereto. The projectable space instance can be, but is notlimited to, an object, an XML document, or an instance which isinstantiated with the structured language or the structured protocol.

Furthermore, the workspace-projecting method will be illustrated in moredetail by way of some embodiments. Please refer to FIG. 7, FIG. 8A, FIG.8B and FIG. 9. FIG. 7 schematically illustrates an initial state beforethe workspace-projecting method is performed. FIG. 8A and FIG. 8Bschematically illustrates the progresses of the workspace-projectingmethod. FIG. 9 schematically shows the relationship between aprojectable space instance as shown in FIG. 7 and a projected workspaceas shown in FIG. 8B. As shown in FIG. 5, a first electronic device 971and a second electronic device 972 can be interconnected to each other,for example, through the internet. Furthermore, the projectable spaceinstance 973 is saved in the first electronic device 971, and a built-inprojector 974 is saved in the second electronic device 972.

In this embodiment, a unified script 980 is declared by the DTD(Document Type Definition) for configuring at least one informationimporter, at least one unified information and/or at least one unifiedtool to model a workspace. The information importer is an embodiment ofthe matterizer. Moreover, the projectable space instance 973 is anobject which is instantiated with XML. As shown in FIG. 9, theprojectable space instance 973 is used for building the projectedworkspace 976 corresponding to the workspace. Besides, the informationimporter, the unified information and/or the unified tool is allowed tobe added in or removed from the projectable space instance 973. Theabove-mentioned descriptions will be illustrated in more details asfollows.

Furthermore, the projector 974 of the second electronic device 972 willestablish a working environment 975 on the second electronic device 972for executing the projected workspace 976, and the projector 974provides a microkernel 977 (see FIG. 9) to the working environment 975for equipping at least one information importer, at least one unifiedinformation and/or at least one unified tool which is/are going to beadded to the projected workspace 976. When the second electronic device972 acquires the projectable space instance 973 saved in the firstelectronic device 971 through a URI, the projector 974 of the secondelectronic device 972 starts to parse the projectable space instance973, as shown in FIG. 8A. After the projectable space instance 973 isparsed by the projector 974, the projected workspace 976 is created inthe working environment 975 according to parsed contents of theprojectable space instance 973, as shown in FIG. 8B. Accordingly, a userof the second electronic device 972 can interact with the projectedworkspace 976 through the second electronic device 972 to performrelated tasks.

The relationships between above mentioned unified script 980, theprojectable space instance 973 and the projected workspace 976 will beillustrated in more detailed by way of a practical condition as shown inFIG. 9. As shown in FIG. 9, a workspace which can be projected and iscapable of accessing jpg format image files and gif format image filessaved in a specified internet space is created for making the imagefiles visible to a user. In this example, the unified script 980 isdeclared by the Document Type Definition (DTD), and the projectablespace instance 973 is instantiated with XML.

Moreover, the information importer and the unified tool will be addedinto the projectable space instance 973, and the information importer isused to import at least one unified information unit corresponding tooriginal information into the projected workspace 976. In this example,the information importer is a Dropbox importer (the information of theDropbox importer is exemplified in the dashed line frame 9761 of FIG.9). The original information are jpg format image file 9791, jpg formatimage file 9792 and gif format image file 9793 stored in Dropbox 979,and the unified information units are unified jpg format image file9791′, unified jpg format image file 9792′ and unified gif format imagefile 9793′. The unified tool is an image viewer (the information of theunified tool is exemplified in the dashed line frame 9762 of FIG. 9)used for accessing image files which are imported into the projectedworkspace 976.

As mentioned previously, the projected workspace 976 is created afterthe projectable space instance 973 is parsed by the projector 974 of thesecond electronic device 972. In this example, the Dropbox importer9761′ (corresponding to the dashed line frame 9761) and the image viewer9762′ (corresponding to the dashed line frame 9762) are configured inthe projected workspace 976. The Dropbox importer 9761′ unifies andimports the jpg format image file 9791, the jpg format image file 9792and the gif format image file 9793 from Dropbox 979 into the projectedworkspace 976. Then the unified jpg format image file 9791′, the unifiedjpg format image file 9792′ and the unified gif format image file 9793′corresponding to the jpg format image file 9791, the jpg format imagefile 9792 and the gif format image file 9793, respectively, are presentin the projected workspace 976. When the user of the second electronicdevice 972 manipulates any of the unified image files 9791′, 9792′ and9793′ by way of any suitable means, e.g. clicking on the iconrepresenting one of the unified images files 9791′, 9792′ and 9793′, ordragging and dropping the icon representing one of the image files9791′, 9792′ and 9793′ to the image viewer 9762′, the image viewer 9762′will access contents of the corresponding unified image file 9791′,9792′ or 9793′ to present the unified image file 9791′, 9792′ or 9793′in front of the user. The information importer 9761′ and the imageviewer 9762′ mentioned above may be equipped by the microkernel 977.

It is to be noted that the URI of the projectable space instance 973 maybe a HTTP (hypertext transfer protocol) URI or a FTP (file transferprotocol) URI. When the first electronic device 971 and the secondelectronic device 972 are integrated into one device, the URI of theprojectable space instance 973 can also be a local file URI. The URI ofthe projectable space instance 973 is not limited to the above-mentionedtypes. The projectable space instance 973 can be accessed by not only anoriginal editor, but also an authorized user or an authorized electronicdevice. For instance, the authorized user may, but is not limited to,acquire the projectable space instance 973 through the URI by using anauthorized user account and password.

A related art disclosed in patent application Ser. No. 14/577,772,entitled “METHOD OF PROJECTING A WORKSPACE AND SYSTEM USING THE SAME”and assigned to the same assignee, as well as the China PatentApplication No. 201410814138.5, which claims the benefit of priority tothe U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 14/324,069, 14/325,466 and14/577,772 and is entitled “Method of projecting a workspace and systemusing the same”, are applicable to embodiments of the present invention.The disclosure of the co-pending patent applications are incorporatedherein for reference.

It is to be noted that the workspace-projecting method described aboveis only one of the examples for projecting a workspace to any electronicdevice with computing capability. Those who are skilled in the art maymake variations and modifications to the workspace-projecting methoddescribed above depending on practical requirements.

Hereinafter, a method of controlling and managing one or more electronicdevices according to the present invention will be described in moredetail by way of embodiments with reference to accompanying drawings.The electronic devices controlled by the present control device canautomatically and adaptively operate depending on practical requirementsin a less complicated and less labor-consuming way. The one or moreelectronic devices may be different electronic devices. The differentelectronic devices, for example, may be the same type of electronicdevices manufactured by different manufacturers but exhibiting similarfunctions. They could also be different types of electronic devicesmanufactured by the same or different manufacturers and exhibitingdifferent functions. Although the controlling and managing method isadapted to be used among intelligent home appliances, it is alsoapplicable to a medical equipment system, a security control system, afire-fighting control system, a transportation control system or anyother suitable system.

Please refer to FIG. 10, which is a flowchart illustrating a method ofcontrolling and managing one or more electronic devices according to thepresent invention. The control and management method includes Step P1:providing a projectable space instance for a control device to create aworkspace, wherein an analyzing and controlling tool, a data-monitoringtool and at least one unified tool for driving at least one electronicdevice is selectively added to the projectable space instance; and P2:parsing the projectable space instance with a projector by the controldevice to automatically generate a projected workspace corresponding tothe workspace to be created via the projectable space instance, whereinthe data-monitoring tool accesses a data information from the at leastone electronic device by way of the at least one unified tool, and theanalyzing and controlling tool analyzes the data information andcontrols the at least one electronic device by way of the at least oneunified tool according to an analysis result.

The projectable space instance is configured, for example by a user, inaccordance with a desired control and management design to be executedby the control device, and will be illustrated in more detail later.

Please refer to FIG. 11 through FIG. 13. FIG. 11 schematicallyillustrating an initial state before a projected workspace is built.FIG. 12 schematically illustrates the progress of generating a projectedworkspace. FIG. 13 schematically shows the relationship between aprojectable space instance as shown in FIGS. 11 and 12 and a projectedworkspace as shown in FIG. 13.

As shown in FIG. 11, there are a first electronic device 21, a secondelectronic device 22, a configuring device 23, a control device 24 and astorage device 25 in an environment, and interconnected via, forexample, the internet. A first communication chip 211 developed based ona first communication protocol and a second communication chip 221developed based on a second communication protocol are installed in thefirst electronic device 21 and the second electronic device 22,respectively. The first communication protocol and the secondcommunication protocol could be the same or different. The controldevice 24 is, for example but not limited to, a computer, a homeappliance, a handheld electronic device or a wearable electronic device.The first communication chip 211 is developed based on, for example butnot limited to, AllJoyn open software architecture and the secondcommunication chip 221 is developed based on, for example but notlimited to, a communication protocol of DLNA.

According to the present invention, the first electronic device 21 andthe second electronic device 22 can execute a task, as desired by a user8, under the control and management of the control device 24. Initially,a projectable space instance 31 is installed in the configuring device23, for example but not limited to, a computer, and the projectablespace instance 31 is created and compiled according to practical needsof the user 8. The user 8 may selectively add an analyzing andcontrolling tool 42, a data-monitoring tool 43 and a plurality ofunified tools 41 respectively corresponding to the first electronicdevice 21 and the second electronic device 22 to the projectable spaceinstance 31. In addition, the user 8 may compile a control rule 44 ofthe control device 24. When the projectable space instance 31 is loadedinto the control device 24 via, for example but not limited to, auniform resource identifier (URI), the control device 24 parses theprojectable space instance 31 and builds a projected workspace 32accordingly. Meanwhile, the data-monitoring tool 43 accesses datainformation from the first electronic device 21 and the secondelectronic device 22 and stores it into the storage device 25 so thatthe analyzing and controlling tool 42 can access the data informationfrom the storage device 25. Then the first electronic device 21 and thesecond electronic device 22 can be controlled according to the analysisresult.

More specifically, the projected workspace 32 is built by way of aprojector 241 included in the control device 24. The projector 241builds a working environment 2411 required for the operation of theprojected workspace 32 in the control device 24. The projector 241 alsoprovides a microkernel 2412 corresponding to the workspace for equippingand launching the control and management tool 42, the data-monitoringtool 43 and the unified tools 41 compiled in the projectable spaceinstance 31. When the control device 24 loads the projectable spaceinstance 31 thereinto from the configuring device 23, the projector 241parses the projectable space instance 31, and then the projectedworkspace 32 is built in the working environment 2411 according toparsed contents of the projectable space instance 31. Accordingly, thedata-monitoring tool 43 can access data information from the firstelectronic device 21 and the second electronic device 22 according tothe control rule 44, and transmits the data information to the storagedevice 25 to be stored. The analyzing and controlling tool 42 can accessthe data information from the storage device 25 for analysis, andcontrol and manage the first electronic device 21 and the secondelectronic device 22 according to the analysis result. The projector 241can be built in the control device 24. Alternatively, the projector 241can also be loaded from an external storage device (not shown in thefigures) via internet.

In this embodiment, the unified tools 41 includes a unified first devicedriver 411 generated by unifying a first device driver by way of aunifying method and a unified second device driver 412 generated byunifying a second device driver by way of the unifying method. The firstdevice driver and the second device driver are respectivelycorresponding to the first electronic device 21 and the secondelectronic device 22, and the projectable space instance 31 is an objectwhich is instantiated with XML. As shown in FIG. 13, the relationshipbetween the projectable space instance 31 and the projected workspace 32are shown, and the correspondence is indicated with dash lines. In thisembodiment, the first device driver and the second device driver aredeveloped by way of, for example but not limited to, softwaredevelopment kits (SDK) respectively corresponding to the firstelectronic device 21 and the second electronic device 22, and held in aspecified storage device linkable to the internet.

Please refer to FIG. 14, which is a scheme illustrating the interactionof the projected workspace in the control device with the firstelectronic device and the second electronic device for group control andmanagement according to an embodiment of the present invention. In thisembodiment, the unified first device driver 411, the unified seconddevice driver 412, the analyzing and controlling tool 42, and thedata-monitoring tool 43 configured into the projected workspace 32during the creation of the projected workspace 32 are unified ones. Theunified first device driver 411 can communicate with the firstcommunication chip 211 of the first electronic device 21 via the firstcommunication protocol, and the unified second device driver 412 cancommunicate with the second communication chip 221 of the secondelectronic device 22 via the second communication protocol. Since allthe unified first device driver 411, the unified second device driver412, the analyzing and controlling tool 42, and the data-monitoring tool43 have been unified before they are configured into the projectedworkspace 32, the unified first device driver 411, the unified seconddevice driver 412, the analyzing and controlling tool 42, and thedata-monitoring tool 43 are compatible and able to communicate with oneanother. Therefore, the data-monitoring tool 43 can access datainformation from the first electronic device 21 and data informationfrom the second electronic device 22 via the unified first device driver411 and the unified second device driver 412, respectively. The datainformation is then transmitted to the storage device 25 to be saved.Also by way of the unified first device driver 411 and the unifiedsecond device driver 412, the analyzing and controlling tool 42 cancontrol the first electronic device 21 and the second electronic device22 after analyzing the data information saved in the storage device 25.

Hereinafter, examples are given to illustrate the control and managementmethod according to the present invention. For example, the firstelectronic device 21 and the second electronic device 22 are a firstlight and a second light installed in public area of a building andequipped with human sensors for detecting whether anybody is entering orleaving the associated area. The user 8 may compile the projectablespace instance 31 for the energy-saving purpose to add the unified firstdevice driver 411 corresponding to the first electronic device 21, theunified second device driver 412 corresponding to the second electronicdevice 22, the analyzing and controlling tool 42, and thedata-monitoring tool 43 into the projectable space instance 31.Accordingly, when the projected workspace 32 is built in the controldevice 24, the data-monitoring tool 43 can access the sensed data fromthe first electronic device 21 and the second electronic device 22, andtransmit the sensed data to the storage device 25 to be saved. Forexample, the first light sensor detects a first count of people passinga first region, where the first light is installed, in a first specifiedtime period, and the second light sensor detects a second count ofpeople passing a second region, where the second light is installed, ina second specified time period. The sensed data is transmitted to bestored in the storage device 25. The analyzing and controlling tool 42then analyzes the sensed data saved in the storage device 25 to realizethe pedestrian traffic conditions associated with the first light andthe second light, respectively. According to the analysis result, i.e.the pedestrian traffic conditions, the first light and the second lightcan be independently or interactively controlled by the analyzing andcontrolling tool 42 by way of a suitable control rule.

In a specific example, the building is an office building. Since theanalyzing and controlling tool 42 realizes that the pedestrian trafficin the first region, where the first light 21 is installed, is heavierin off-work hours, the analyzing and controlling tool 42 controls thefirst light to illuminate with higher brightness. On the contrary, theanalyzing and controlling tool 42 realizes that the pedestrian trafficin the first region is less heavier in the midnight, so the analyzingand controlling tool 42 controls the first light 21 to illuminate withlower brightness, or controls the first light 21 to be turned on onlywhen detecting someone is passing. The second light 22 can be controlledin a similar way or according to another control rule.

Likewise, all the lights in the building can be controlled and managedindependently or interactively. Accordingly, an energy-saving effect canbe achieved without any specific design for each light. Therefore, thepresent invention is advantageous in saving laboring, compared with theprior art.

In a second example, the first electronic device 21 is an acousticsensor near a sofa in the living room, and the second electronic device22 is a speaker set including five speakers distributed around theliving room. The user 8 may use the control device 24 according to thepresent invention to perform sound localization of the speaker setautomatically with high precision. Since it would have the bestsurrounding sound effect when the user 8 is sitting on the sofa, theuser 8 may compile the projectable space instance 31 to add theanalyzing and controlling tool 42, and the data-monitoring tool 43, theunified device driver corresponding to the acoustic sensor, the unifieddevice drivers respectively corresponding to the speakers of the speakerset into the projectable space instance. Therefore, the data-monitoringtool 43 can pick up the sensed data, e.g. multi-directional audio data,from the acoustic sensor after the projected workspace 32 is built inthe control device 24, and transmit the sensed data to the storagedevice 25 to be saved. The analyzing and controlling tool 42 thenanalyzes the sensed data stored in the storage device 25 in order tocontrol speakers of the speaker set to determine which one or ones ofthe speakers should be volume up and which one or ones should be volumedown. By using the present control device 24, it is possible for one whois not professional may design his own stereophonic sound.

It is understood that in the present method, the analyzing algorithmadopted by the analyzing and controlling tool 42 can be selected basedon practical requirements. Currently available algorithms concerningdata mining may also be used, which are not to be redundantly describedherein.

According to the above descriptions, it is understood that the presentinvention provides a method of controlling and managing one or more homeappliances adopting different communication protocols or communicationchips. The electronic devices can be automatically operated depending onpractical needs so as to alleviate the burdens of complicated designs ormanual laboring. The quality of lives can be improved.

The above-mentioned embodiments can be varied or modified according topractical needs. For instance, the control device and the configuringdevice can be integrated into one unit. Furthermore, the data-monitoringtool is included in the analyzing and controlling tool; the analyzingand controlling tool is included in the data-monitoring tool; or thedata-monitoring tool and the analyzing and controlling tool are a commontool. The storage device may also be disposed in the control device.

While the invention has been described in terms of what is presentlyconsidered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is tobe understood that the invention needs not be limited to the disclosedembodiments. On the contrary, it is intended to cover variousmodifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit andscope of the appended claims which are to be accorded with the broadestinterpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similarstructures.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of controlling and managing anelectronic device, comprising: providing a projectable space instancefor a control device to create a workspace, wherein an analyzing andcontrolling tool, a data-monitoring tool and at least one unified toolfor driving at least one electronic device is selectively added to theprojectable space instance; and parsing the projectable space instancewith a projector by the control device to automatically generate aprojected workspace corresponding to the workspace to be created via theprojectable space instance, wherein the data-monitoring tool picks up adata information from the at least one electronic device by way of theat least one unified tool, and the analyzing and controlling toolanalyzes the data information and controls the at least one electronicdevice by way of the at least one unified tool according to an analysisresult.
 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the at least oneunified tool includes at least one unified device driver generated byunifying at least one device driver by way of a unifying method.
 3. Themethod according to claim 2, wherein the at least one device driver isdeveloped by way of a software development kit (SDK) corresponding tothe at least one electronic device.
 4. The method according to claim 2,wherein the at least one unified tool includes a plurality of unifieddevice drivers generated by unifying a plurality of device drivers fordriving a plurality of electronic devices, respectively, wherein theplurality of device drivers are configured in the projected workspaceafter being unified, so as to be compatible with one another.
 5. Themethod according to claim 1, further comprising: storing the datainformation accessed from the at least one electronic device by thedata-monitoring tool into a storage device to be accessed by theanalyzing and controlling tool for analysis.
 6. The method according toclaim 1, wherein the control device controls and manages at least twodifferent types of electronic devices.
 7. The method according to claim6, wherein the at least two different types of electronic devices aremanufactured by different manufacturers, exhibit different functions, orare manufactured by different manufacturers and exhibit differentfunctions.
 8. The method according to claim 1, for controlling andmanaging a home appliance system, a medical equipment system, a securitycontrol system, a fire-fighting control system or a transportationcontrol system.
 9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the controldevice is selected from a computer, a home appliance, a handheldelectronic device, a wearable electronic device or a combinationthereof.
 10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the projectablespace instance is an object, an extensible markup language (XML)document, or an instance instantiated with a structured language or astructured protocol.
 11. The method according to claim 1, wherein thedata-monitoring tool is included in the analyzing and controlling tool;the analyzing and controlling tool is included in the data-monitoringtool; or the data-monitoring tool and the analyzing and controlling toolare a common tool.
 12. A control device for controlling and managing atleast one electronic device, comprising a projector for parsing aprojectable space instance to build a projected workspace correspondingto a workspace to be created via the projectable space instance, whereinan analyzing and controlling tool, a data-monitoring tool and at leastone unified tool for driving the at least one electronic device areselectively added to the projectable space instance, and when theprojected workspace is built and working, the data-monitoring toolaccesses a data information from the at least one electronic device byway of the at least one unified tool, and the analyzing and controllingtool analyzes the data information and controls the at least oneelectronic device by way of the at least one unified tool according toan analysis result.
 13. The control device according to claim 12,wherein the at least one unified tool includes at least one unifieddevice driver generated by unifying at least one device driver by way ofa unifying method.
 14. The control device according to claim 13, whereinthe at least one device driver is developed by way of a softwaredevelopment kit (SDK) corresponding to the at least one electronicdevice.
 15. The control device according to claim 13, wherein the atleast one unified tool includes a plurality of unified device driversgenerated by unifying a plurality of device drivers for driving aplurality of electronic devices, respectively, wherein the plurality ofdevice drivers are configured in the projected workspace after beingunified, so as to be compatible with one another.
 16. The control deviceaccording to claim 12, further comprising a storage device for storingthe data information accessed from the at least one electronic device bythe data-monitoring tool, and accessible by the analyzing andcontrolling tool for analysis of the data information.
 17. The controldevice according to claim 12, wherein the control device controls andmanages at least two different types of electronic devices.
 18. Thecontrol device according to claim 17, wherein the at least two differenttypes of electronic devices are manufactured by different manufacturers,exhibit different functions, or are manufactured by differentmanufacturers and exhibit different functions.
 19. The control deviceaccording to claim 12, wherein the data-monitoring tool is included inthe analyzing and controlling tool; the analyzing and controlling toolis included in the data-monitoring tool; or the data-monitoring tool andthe analyzing and controlling tool are a common tool.
 20. The controldevice according to claim 12, for controlling and managing a homeappliance system, a medical equipment system, a security control system,a fire-fighting control system or a transportation control system.